By Sharon Tawuya
Harare, (New Ziana) -The City of Harare has introduced stricter measures for the approval of fuel service stations, an official has said.
Acting director for planning Samuel Nyabezi said this on Monday at the Town House while briefing the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Local Government and Public Works on the new processes being implemented by council.
He said the new measures include mandatory public notification through billboards and a 1.5km spacing rule, as part of efforts to curb the proliferation of fuel stations in residential areas.
“We now require that the applicant for a service station installs a billboard on the property. The billboard will state the nature of the application and the diagrams pertaining to the application,” Nyabezi said.
He said the billboard also advises the public and neighbors to submit any objections or representations to the local planning authority.
“Thereafter, we will listen to any objections or submissions that may come from the neighbors, the public and other experts because we also circulate the application to various stakeholders. We thoroughly interrogate the application before it is concluded,” he said.
Nyabezi said council now has a policy regulating the establishment of service stations.
“It says that no service station should be established within one and a half kilometers of each other. It also gives the minimum sizes for a service station which happens to be 2 000 square meters so that we allow service stations to be built together with ancillary structures,” he said.
“We have not licensed a service station since the we started implementing the policy,” he told MPs.
Other conditions include an Environmental Impact Assessment report approved by EMA before construction, and approval by ZERA.
“We also insist on minimum distances, especially for those service stations which are close to residential areas. We also insist on certain walls that should be built by the service station owner in the event that the service station shares boundaries with residential properties,” Nyabezi said.
“We have now become very thorough. We consult very widely with stakeholders, communities and neighborhoods before we come up with a permit for a service station. We also consult very widely on traffic issue,” he added.
Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume confirmed to the Committee that the local authority now has a new rule on service stations licensing.
“We have come up with a manner in terms of regulating the awarding of service stations,” he said.
He commended the participation of residents under that new dispensation.
“In Harare South, residents were complaining that someone is building a service station closer to houses,” he said.
He however said the long-term solution to the rising number of service stations in the city was for the country to move to electric vehicles.
The committee was in Harare to appreciate the way building licenses for fuel service stations are issued.
The MPs later toured a G Service Station along Kirkman Road and two others, Redan and Thuli, barely 100 meters from each other along Bulawayo Road and also close to the Harare Provincial Heroes Acre.
Management at the stations told the MPs there was nothing wrong with their operations, arguing fuel storage is underground.
The inquiry continues in other towns, with the committee set to visit Kwekwe on Tuesday.
The new measures come after Ministry of Local Government and Public Works officials appeared before the same committee in July this year.
The Ministry officials told the committee that existing regulations and statutes governing the licensing of service stations were not being fully adhered to, leading to the massive sprouting of fuelling stations in Harare in recent years.
They said some developers were bypassing consultation and planning procedures, while weak enforcement by local authorities had allowed fuel stations to be established too close to residential areas and to each other, raising safety and environmental concerns.
The Ministry said it was working with councils to ensure stricter compliance with planning laws.
Chaired by Chinhoyi MP legislator Leslie Mhangwa, the committee will this week visit Kwekwe, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Chiredzi and return to Chitungwiza for meetings with council officials to get appraisal on their licensing regulations and also tour service stations in those areas.
New Ziana
